Appearance and Character

Joffrey has the Lannister look and is tall for a boy his age, with blond curly hair. Known to be handsome, he has bright green eyes, pouty lips and an evil sneer. Jon Snow thinks that Joffrey looks like a girl. He always wears the finest clothing and accents, as befits the royal heir.[5][6][7] His surcout is divided, showing both the Baratheon stag of his father, King Robert I, and the Lannister lion of his mother, Cersei.[6] Joffrey is a skilled dancer.[8]

Twelve years old at the beginning of A Song of Ice and Fire, Joffrey was strong-willed as a child and has an uncontrollable temper not unlike Cersei and an unchecked sadistic streak. He has little sense of right or wrong, which often leads him to trouble, especially when he loses his temper. When things go wrong, he always blames the problems on others. Despite being willful he is reckless, vicious, cruel and not very intelligent, all of which combine to make him prone to irrational and bad judgements.

History

Joffrey grew up as a spoiled and indulgent child with a cruel streak within him. His father, King Robert I Baratheon, is deeply disappointed with his son and feels little affection for Joffrey[9][10] – nor did he like the fact that Joffrey would always cry whenever Robert picked him up.[11] It is implied that Joffrey craves Robert's respect and approval, and many of his acts are done in an effort to live up to his father's standards.[12]

Once after learning a kitchen cat was pregnant, Joffrey killed the animal and cut open its belly to see the kittens inside. He showed one of the unborn kittens to his father. Robert was so shocked and angry he hit the boy so hard it knocked out two of his baby teeth.[12] Cersei also remarks that Robert would have beaten the boy if she had allowed it.[13] It is also implied Joffrey bullied his younger brother, Tommen.[14]

On the way from Winterfell to King's Landing, Joffrey spends a day riding with Sansa, who enjoys it greatly whilst he drinks wine. They come upon Arya Stark and her friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, practicing sword fighting. Joffrey is drunk and commands Mycah to spar with him; Mycah does not take up the challenge, and Joffrey pricks him with his sword, Lion's Tooth, ignoring pleas to leave him alone. Arya smacks him with the stick, allowing Mycah to escape; an enraged Joffrey slashes at Arya and is injured when her direwolf, Nymeria, protects her.[15] Arya takes Lion's Tooth from him and hurls it towards the Trident. The humiliated youth later claims before Robert's court at Darry that he had been attacked by Mycah and Nymeria. This results in the deaths of Mycah and Sansa's direwolf, Lady, and earns Joffrey the hatred of Arya. Robert's younger brother, Lord Renly Baratheon, openly laughs at his nephew for being beaten and disarmed by a girl younger than him.[25]

While drinking with Eddard Stark at the Hand's tourney at King's Landing, King Robert openly despairs of his son and heir, revealing to his old friend that he has often thought of abdicating; the only thing that stops him is the thought of Joffrey sitting on the Iron Throne with his mother Cersei whispering in his ear.[26]

Acting as the new Hand, Ned Stark discovers that Joffrey, along with his siblings, are actually bastards born of incest between Cersei and her twin, Ser Jaime of Robert's Kingsguard.[27][28] Robert never questioned the boy's parentage. Cersei protects her children's secret by arranging for King Robert's death after drunkenly hunting in the kingswood.[29][30]

Following Robert's death, Joffery summons the council and commands that they make arrangements for his coronation as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. When Ned produces Robert's will, which declares Ned regent and mentions "the heir" rather than specifying Joffrey as heir to the Iron Throne, Cersei tears it up and advises Ned to swear fealty to her son. Ned in turn reveals that Joffrey has no claim to the throne and that his uncle, Lord Stannis Baratheon, is the true heir, but Eddard is quickly arrested for treason.[30]

After taking the Iron Throne as Robert's heir, Joffrey starts his first court session by naming his grandfather, Lord Tywin Lannister, as the new Hand of the King, appointing his mother to the small council and Jaime Lannister as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and dismissing the legendary knight Barristan Selmy from his service, against all traditions. When Barristan the Bold storms out in disgust, making a remark about the ease with which Stannis would take the throne from him, Joffrey orders Barristan seized and questioned,[16] though the old knight escapes.[31] The vacancy on the Kingsguard is filled by Joffrey's sworn shield, Sandor Clegane, who is called the Hound.[16]

When Sansa kneels and begs for him to spare her father Eddard's life and asks that Joffrey to do this for love of her, Joffrey promises Sansa that he will be merciful. After Eddard confesses his crimes and declares that Joffrey is the true heir to the Iron Throne, Joffrey's mercy turns out to be Eddard's public beheading by Ser Ilyn Payne before Sansa's eyes at the Great Sept of Baelor.[32] This rash act is against his family's wishes to minimize further bloodshed and restore the king's peace[33] and leads to the intensification of hostilities.

Joffrey continues to mistreat and abuse Sansa, a penalty for each of Robb's victories. Forcing her to look at her father Eddard's severed head is the start of a string of beatings he commands his Kingsguard to abuse her with. He threatens to force her to look on her brother Robb's head when he kills him, as he boasts, in single combat.[36] Joffrey fancies himself a warrior, and considers leading the City Watch of King's Landing into the field. Cersei withholds the news of Renly's coronation at Highgarden from Joffrey lest he insist on marching against him.[33]

Joffrey rules with whim and caprice, proving difficult for even his mother to control. Sansa becomes imprisoned to his will, and he frequently has his Kingsguard, with the exception of the Hound, beat her when she displeases him.[41] When he tries to have her stripped, however, he is stopped by Tyrion.[42] Although Joffrey never tries it again, he is determined to eventually have Sansa in his bed whether he marries her or not.[11][43]

Joffrey's cruelty and the decreased quality of life at King's Landing due to food shortages and other hardships make Joffrey an unpopular king, and he is nearly killed in a riot sparked by his temper.[44] Acting as his temporary Hand, only Tyrion stands up to Joffrey's authority, and the king develops a special hatred for his uncle. Tyrion, in return, holds his nephew in contempt, viewing him as a monster.

Following the battle, Joffrey rewards many of the survivors in the throne room. The king puts aside his betrothal to Sansa and instead promises to wed Margaery Tyrell, Mace's daughter and the widow of Renly. He is excused from court after cutting his arm on the Iron Throne.[43]

Sansa Stark informs Olenna Tyrell, Margaery's grandmother, of Joffrey's cruel personality.[51] Tywin arranges the marriage of Sansa to Tyrion, and Joffrey intends to be present for the bedding. The king is outraged when Tyrion threatens to geld him in defense of his new wife, however.[8]

Joffrey is delighted when he hears of Robb Stark's death at the Red Wedding and wants his head so he can serve it to Sansa at his own wedding, in addition to wanting to show no mercy to the northern and river lords who surrendered following Robb Stark's death. Tywin instructs Joffrey to be merciful in victory, but then sends the king from the Hand's solar when Joffrey is insulting in response.[52]

Tywin gives his grandson a Valyrian steel sword as a wedding present, which Joffrey names Widow's Wail. Joffrey slices Lives of Four Kings with his new sword, demanding a better present from Tyrion and Sansa.[53] Since Joffrey boasts that he is no stranger to the metal, Tyrion thinks that Joffrey is referring to the Valyrian steel dagger given to the assassin at Winterfell, though he is unable to fathom why, attributing it to Joffrey's innate cruelty.[4]Jaime later deduces that Joffrey did it in an attempt to impress his father after overhearing a drunken Robert say it would be kinder to put the crippled Bran Stark out of his misery.[54]

Joffrey's marriage to Margaery in 300 AC is on the first day of the new century at the Great Sept of Baelor.[4] During his wedding feast in the Red Keep's throne room, Joffrey pours wine from his new chalice atop Tyrion when his uncle refuses to join the dwarfs reenacting the War of the Five Kings, and the king forces Tyrion to serve as his cupbearer.[4] Joffrey is poisoned after eating pigeon pie and drinking wine, and he dies while the entire court looks on, his face turning black as he asphyxiates while tearing at his throat. Cersei blames the deed on Tyrion and Sansa.[4]

While Tyrion is taken into custody by the Kingsguard, Sansa escapes King's Landing with the aid of Petyr Baelish.[55] Littlefinger reveals that he orchestrated the plot with Olenna Tyrell.[56] Due to the color of the amethysts in the unknowing Sansa's hairnet[55] used to poison Joffrey's wine,[57] and the actual color of the wine, the wedding has since been referred to by fans as the Purple Wedding.

Joffrey is laid in state in the Red Keep's sept in gilded armor, and when Jaime returns to King's Landing he makes love to Cersei in front of the corpse.[58] He is ultimately laid to rest in the Great Sept of Baelor.[59] Because Joffrey was poisoned, Jaime tasks Ser Boros Blount with tasting all of King Tommen I Baratheon's food and drink.[59] He refuses to recognize Joffrey as his son.[54]

During Tyrion's trial for Joffrey's death, witnesses downplay the king's behavior and exaggerate Tyrion's actions.[60][61] Tyrion demands trial by battle, and he is represent by Oberyn Martell, who seeks vengeance for the death of his sister, Elia of Dorne, who was killed years ago by the crown's representative, Ser Gregor Clegane. The Mountain kills the Red Viper in combat, however, and Tyrion is deemed to be guilty by the gods.[61] Before Tyrion can be executed for Joffrey's death, Jaime frees his brother from the dungeon. Angry at Jaime having deceived him about his first wife, Tysha, Tyrion lies and takes responsibility for Joffrey's death.[62]

A Feast for Crows

Joffrey, with the exception of his mother Cersei,[63] is not particularly mourned by anyone; even his biological father, Jaime, feels that Joffrey deserved his fate[54] and wants Tommen to be different.[64] Tyrion believes that Joffrey would have become a worse king than the Mad King.[62]Arys Oakheart thinks the only good thing that could be said of Joffrey is that he was tall and strong for his age.[65] Because of Joffrey, Ser Kevan Lannister considers Cersei to be an unfit mother.[66]

Quotes by Joffrey

“

Tywin: Joffrey, when your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you. And any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king at all. Aerys never understood that, but you will. When I've won your war for you, we will restore the king's peace and the king's justice. The only head that need concern you is Margaery Tyrell's maidenhead.

Joffrey: You talk about Aerys, Grandfather, but you were scared of him.Cersei: Joffrey, apologize to your grandfather.Joffrey: Why should I? Everyone knows it's true. My father won all the battles. He killed Prince Rhaegar and took the crown, while your father was hiding under Casterly Rock. A strong king acts boldly, he doesn't just talk.[52]

I have dreamed of giving up the crown. Take ship for the Free Cities with my horse and my hammer, spend my time warring and whoring, that's what I was made for. The sellsword king, how the singers would love me. You know what stops me? The thought of Joffrey on the throne, with Cersei standing behind him whispering in his ear. My son. How could I have made a son like that, Ned?[26]

Jaime: I ... I thought he might have. Tyrion: Well, a son takes after his father. Joffrey would have killed me as well, once he came into his power. For the crime of being short and ugly, of which I am conspicuously guilty.[62]